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I grew up watching the Coen’s films before they were Oscar winners, when the world at large didn’t know who they were and a bizarre comic slant affected everything they made. The Coen’s make movies that make me happy; they may not be normal, they may not be logical, but the films are always spectacular and memorable. The Hudsucker Proxy is one of the Coen’s earlier films that I just had the pleasure of watching for the first time.

Old Mr. Hudsucker, founder of Hudsucker Industries decides to take a swan dive out of the board room window when the company is at its most profitable; the problem for Sidney Mussburger and the remainder of the Hudsucker board is that Mr. Hudsucker didn’t have a will, so all of his shares will go up for public sale in the new year and the board will lose all control of the company and profits if they lose those shares. The board hatches a plan, they will chose the worst president they can, let the stocks take a dive as public confidence fails and then they will buy up Hudsucker’s shares themselves at insanely low prices. Luckily for Mussburger Norville Barnes has just arrived in the mail room and is eager to rise to high places. When Norville accidently causes an accident that almost causes Mussburger to plummet to his death as well Nussburger and the board decide he might just be the bumbling idiot to lead Hudsucker in the direction they wish to go.

I am going to be honest when I say that I am not sure I fully understood The Hudsucker Proxy, even for the Coen’s it’s pretty far out there, but I loved it just the same. It’s an insane romp of imagination, business ethics and the spirit of invention wrapped in a comedy by people that know how to entertain an audience – why wouldn’t that be enjoyable?

Watching this movie reminded me of how much I love Paul Newman. Newman played Sidney Mussburger, the most unscrupulous character in the film who would so anything he can to get ahead financially and he is the tormenting figure only Newman could play while still inserting class and style into the comedy.

The single best character in the film for me is Norville Barnes. Norville is an absolutely inexperienced character, fresh off the bus from middle America ready to make his mark in the bustling city of New York, New York, where dreams are made. His insistence from start to finish that his simple sketch that’s “you know, for kids” will revolutionize Hudsucker is both endearing and memorable. He’s the kind of character you get to root for and scorn through the process of the film as his ego gets too big and then is redeemed. Tim Robbins plays Barnes as a innocent, almost child-like character that is in the city without a protector and gets caught up in the ultimate game of “be careful what you wish for”.

However, what truly makes the Hudsucker Proxy a Coen film is the denouement. No one crafts an ending quite like Joel & Ethan. The ending to Burn After Reading may still be my favorite but The Hudsucker Proxy is classic Coen and should be seen. If you’ve never experienced the Coen’s movies before No Country for Old Men you need to correct that and correct it quickly. The Coen’s movies are too good to be missed.

Director: Joel Coen
Writers>: Joel & Ethan Coen
Norville Barnes: Tim Robbins
Amy Archer: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Sidney J. Mussburger: Paul Newman
Waring Hudsucker: Charles Durning
Moses: Bill Cobbs
Smitty: Bruce Campbell

Amy Archer: I used to think you were a swell guy. Well, to be honest, I thought you were an imbecile. But then I figured out you WERE a swell guy... A little slow, maybe, but a swell guy. Well, maybe you're not so slow, But you're not so swell either. And it looks like you're an imbecile after all!

Young siblings Danny, Walter & Lisa are learning to cope with their newly divorced parents; like any typical teen Lisa is very self-involved and doesn’t want anything to do with her siblings or parents, but Danny & Walter are not coping with the divorce well. On a trip to Dad’s the boys vie for their father’s attention and this causes them to argue the whole time. When their dad has to leave for a meeting Danny tries everything he can to get Walter to pay attention to him and he finds Zathura, an ancient board game in the house. Danny starts the game and the house and the three siblings are pulled into a space adventure that cannot stop until they reach the end of the game.

I loved Jumanji when I was a teen and when Zathura hit the theatres I refused to see it because I couldn’t understand why the films were so similar – why make the movie twice. Little did I know that four years down the line I’d be a huge fan of Jon Favreau & Zathura would be on my list of films I had to see.

Zathura was the film Favreau directed right before getting Iron Man and I must say the film had to teach him a lot of the skills he needed for Iron Man. This is an effect driven picture with explosions, aliens, stunts and on top of that it’s a character driven piece. Favreau managed to take a film which should have been about the effects and make it a film about his characters, the same thing he did with Iron Man.

What had to be the toughest thing about this movie is the fact that all the lead characters are children; this puts so many restrictions on what you can and can’t do that it becomes a nightmare to shoot. On top of that a lot of child actors are difficult to work with. Watching Zathura you never see any of the difficulty. Perhaps this is because Favreau is an actor and a father so he could relate to the kids as actors, or perhaps he’s just that good.

Zathura pleasantly surprised me. I did not expect to enjoy the film, but was very glad to find that not only is it as good as Jumanji but it’s an enjoyable film in its own right.

Director: Jon Favreau
Writers: David Koepp & John Kamps
Danny: Jonah Bobo
Walter: Josh Hutcherson
Artronaut: Dax Shepard
Lisa: Kristen Stewart
Dad: Tim Robbins

Walter: Zathura. Attention space adventurers, Zathura awaits. Do you have what it takes to navigate the galaxy? It's not for the faint of heart, for once you embark upon your journey there's no turning back until Zathura's reached. Pieces reset at the end of each game. Play again and again for differnt adventures.

Robert Altman made phenomenal, biting, slice-of-life films in a way that no one else can make them; Altman drops you into his characters world, introduces a conflict and before the entire world makes too much sense he pulls you back out again, but Altman’s worlds change you forever.

In The Player Griffin Mill is a high powered executive at a movie studio, he is a man that hold the dreams of writers and directors in his hands as he has the power to give projects the go ahead; however, as most executives in the industry he doesn’t feel he has the time to “be nice” which sometimes means he leaves the people that pitch him hanging and never responds. This is all par for the course for Griffin until one writer won’t take it anymore and begins to stalk Griffin and threaten to kill him. As if this weren’t enough Griffin is also facing what he thinks is a premeditated murder of his career as the studio head brings in Larry Levy to be another Vice President.

I know that if you are familiar with film history I am about to beat a dead horse, but I cannot discuss The Player without discussing the first shot of the film – the shot that lasts eight minutes of the film. If you are a film newbie or have never made your own movie you really have no idea how hard setting up a shot is; you have to think about where to place your lights so that the camera won’t see them, where the actors are going to move, where sound can be – there are hundreds of minute details that need to be in place in order to capture a shot – and that is for a static shot. Altman did his first shot of The Player as a moving shot so he had to stage people, cars and bikes crossing the frame on queue, the camera, actors and props had to be in the right place at the same time all the while those not on camera had too keep moving and doing what they were doing because at any moment the camera would move back to where they are to continue the scene. The work and time Altman, cast and crew had to put into that one shot had to be absolutely insane.

I do love Altman’s take on the world and I am very glad that all of his films are incredibly diverse. I do have to say that The Player would probably be on my list of favorite Altman films.

Director: Robert Altman
Writer: Michael Tolkin
Griffin Mill: Tim Robbins
June Gudmundsdottir: Greta Scacchi
Det. Avery: Whoopi Goldberg
Larry Levy: Peter Gallagher
Bonnie Sherow: Cynthia Stevenson
David Kahane: Vincent D’Onofrio

Griffin Mill: It lacked certain elements that we need to market a film successfully.
June: What elements?
Griffin Mill: Suspense, laughter, violence. Hope, heart, nudity, sex. Happy endings. Mainly happy endings.